China, Russia warn US of consequences over sanctions

On Thursday, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had imposed sanctions "on the Chinese entity Equipment Development Department and its director, Li Shangfu" for "engaging in significant transactions" with people on the department's List of Specified Persons.

An "outraged" China on Friday lodged a diplomatic protest with the United States for imposing punitive sanctions on its military unit for buying Russian weapons, warning of "consequences" if the sanctions are not revoked.

"The ultimate target of these sanctions is Russian Federation", a senior U.S. administration official told journalists, insisting on anonymity.

The sanctions trigger a ban on the individuals from entering the United States, forbids them from transactions with the USA financial system and blocks all property that is within U.S. jurisdiction.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang saidBeijing has lodged stern complaints with Washington over the action, which triggers a ban on entering the USA, forbids conducting transactions with the US financial system and forces the blocking of all property and interests in property within US jurisdiction.

He says the US will have to "take all the consequences" if it ignores China's demands.

"We hope that at least this step will send a signal of our seriousness and perhaps encourage others to think twice about their own engagement with the Russian defence and intelligence sectors", another USA official said.

"It would be good for them to remember there is such a concept as global stability which they are thoughtlessly undermining by whipping up tensions in Russian-American ties", Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a statement.

"The imposition of USA sanctions will have zero impact on Russian arms sales to China", said Ian Storey, of Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute.

"Playing with fire is silly, it can become unsafe", he added.

Turkey is in talks regarding the purchase of S-400 missiles from Russian Federation and India has also expressed interest in purchasing S-400s, moves which the U.S. opposes.

Ryabkov reiterated that none of the rounds of sanctions had managed to force Russian Federation to change its course so far. "It appears that it has become a sort of national pastime there", Ryabkov said.

For all of Russia's seemingly upbeat rhetoric the new measures can hurt the country's struggling economy. However, under strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it has more recently grown closer to Russian Federation - including ordering the very same S-400s that landed China in hot water this week.

When asked about the sanctions' possible impact on US-China military relations, Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Logan told the South China Morning Post that "the Department of Defense won't speculate on potential impacts these sanctions could have on mil-mil relations".

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the sanctions were "not meant to take down the economy of third-party countries" such as China.

The two countries will launch new tariffs on Monday, with Washington targeting $200 billion in Chinese exports and Beijing hitting $60 billion worth of American products.

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